Between
by Mieren
Summary: Ever wonder what happens to someone in a coma? A few of our favorite GW boys find out.
1. I

Between

By Mieren

Author's note:  This was based on a dream I had after eating a large pizza and at least three pounds of chocolate.  So if this gets strange, and it will, blame the grease and sugar, not me.  ^_^

*     *     *     *     *

Heero glanced over the data dancing across one of the screens in his Gundam and cursed loudly, repeating a few words he had learned from a certain loudmouthed American.  Aforementioned braided baka appeared on his view screen as if summoned by his foul language.

"Yeah, buddy, I totally agree," he said, his normally carefree violet eyes clouded with worry.

The five pilots were surrounded by a mix of over two thousand mobile suits led by Zechs in Epyon and Treize in a rebuilt and improved Tallgeese.  They were out of ammunition, their suits were all damaged to differing extents and they were exhausted.  The impossible numbers against them weren't helping the situation.  Their only saving grace was the Treize hated mobile dolls and they didn't have to worry about the dangerous machines.

"Status?" Heero snapped.

"Screwed," Duo retaliated immediately, scowling at his screens.  Almost all of his systems were down.  "You got any plans to get outta here?"

"No," the pilot of Wing Zero ground out.  He paused as he was forced to retreat from a few mobile dolls before he was able to destroy them.  When he was able, he called back to the violet-eyed pilot.  "What about you?"

Duo hesitated.  "I got something, but it'll probably kill two of us," he said softly.  "I don't wanna do this."

"What is it?" Heero demanded.  "If it's our only choice, it's better than all of us dying."

"I know," Duo sighed.  He audibly ground his teeth before continuing.  "If we overloaded our weapons and… Well, you know."  He gestured with his hands.  Heero's eyes narrowed in consideration.

"There would be an explosion," he clarified.  Cobalt eyes gleamed.  "Most of the Oz forces could be eliminated in one blow."

"Yeah, but I wanna check with the others first," Duo muttered.  "No reason to blow us up if we can do something else, ya know?"

Heero nodded sharply and called the other pilots to question them.  Trowa simply shook his head, his long bangs plastered to the side of his face with sweat.  Quatre was almost in tears.  Wufei was barely conscious.  One of the blows he had taken had penetrated the cockpit and had badly injured the Chinese pilot.  Between the three of them, no workable plans had been made to escape.  Heero swore again and turned back to Duo's waiting image.

"There are no other options," he said, narrowly avoiding an attack from Zechs.  He managed to kick Epyon in the side as it passed.

"Shit, man," Duo muttered.  He forced his suit to lunge out of the way of a rather vicious attack from a few mobile suits, two of them exploded when he slapped them with his scythe.

"Volunteers?" Heero called stiffly, his normally emotionless voice strained.

"I'll do it.  It was my idea and all," Duo responded immediately, eyes dull.

"I volunteer as well," Wufei answered wearily.  "I'm dead anyways."

"Cover them," Heero snapped.

Wing Zero surged forward, thermal sword leading.  Though exhausted, Quatre and Trowa followed immediately, throwing Sandrock and Heavyarms into the battle.  Duo and Wufei stayed behind, quickly pulling wires from control panels as they fought to overload their weapons.

Shouting out a war cry, Duo pitched his suit forward, lashing his scythe at Shenlong mercilessly.  Silent to the end, Wufei met his blow, obsidian eyes closing of their own accord as the two weapons met in a blinding flash of light.

Expecting the explosion, the three remaining Gundam pilots launched quickly and efficiently away from the battle site, the surge of the detonating Gundams following closely behind their retreat.

*     *     *

"Watch them closely," Treize muttered to Zechs over a secure line.  "They're in tight formation and they know they can't escape.  At least one of them is going to try… something."

"It's Yuy," Zechs growled.  "It has to be him."

Before Treize could respond to the remark, Zechs surged forward in Epyon, lashing out with the deadly whip.  Wing Zero lurched to the side, barely deflecting the attack with a wild swing of the thermal sword.  The Gundam continued with the attack to kick Epyon in the side, throwing it off balance.

Cursing, Treize sent in a squad of mobile suits, mostly to protect him from the nearby hulking form of Deathscythe Hell.  The black Gundam quickly deposed of its attackers.  Convinced that Zechs was safe from being killed by the five surrounded pilots, he continued his musings.

"It's not necessarily Yuy," he stated.  "But they are up to something."

"Probably some sort of ploy to allow some of them to escape," Zechs responded, sounding slightly winded.  "I'll attack whoever they send to escape."

"Do you want backup?"

"No.  They'll just get in the way."

"They're doing something," Treize said suddenly, repositioning Tallgeese.

Zechs quickly looked up at the visuals, ice blue eyes widening to their fullest extent when he saw three charging Gundams.  He began displaying his vast vocabulary, using words that he had previously not even known that he knew.  Assuming that they were decoys, he charged the two immobile Gundams.

He reached them at the exact moment they exploded.

To Be Continued…

As I said above, this is based on a dream I had, so it'll be strange.  Also, it may take awhile to update since a lot of bad things are happening right now…  Basically, I'm nothing short of a nervous wreck, so don't expect too much.


	2. II

Between

Part 2

By Mieren

Wufei was jerked roughly back to consciousness by a worried voice alternately yelling in his ear and arguing with someone else near them.  The sight that greeted him when he opened his ebony eyes made him wish for oblivion again.  A few paces apart, Duo and Zechs were bickering like children.  He was surprised to find himself wrapped protectively in the braided pilot's arms where he was seated, glaring daggers at the platinum blond who was scowling back.  Confused, he forced his mind to focus on the conversation which appeared to be going nowhere.

"…good would it do?  There are no people here.  There is no light.  In fact," Zechs muttered, "nothing here is even alive."

"We need to find help!" Duo insisted, clutching Wufei tighter.  He seemed to be unaware that the Chinese pilot had regained consciousness.

"I'm not wandering off!" Zechs shouted.  "Look around, Maxwell.  Nothing is solid!"

"You can't prove that!"

"You've been throwing rocks through my head for the last hour!"

"What'd ya expect?  It's empty space!"

"Enough!" Zechs roared, towering over the two pilots.  "Even you must realize that something is wrong.  Look at Chang.  He's translucent."  Duo's hold tightened convulsively, but his gaze did not lower.

"I know," he answered in a strained voice.  "Look, Zechs.  He needs help and I don't know what to do.  I'll go with ya.  I'll carry him.  We can't stay here.  Those things are getting closer."

Wufei opened his mouth to ask what 'things' Duo was talking about.  Before he could formulate a question, the answer rippled through the air.  An inhuman shriek resounded in the distance, the lingering cry chilling him to the bone.  He shuddered.

"Wufei?" Duo asked instantly, hope flaring in his violet eyes.  "Are ya awake now?"

"Yeah," he managed groggily.  His hand reflexively reached up to scrub a few loose strands of hair from his face.  He froze when his hand came into view.  His expression must have looked horrified because Duo suddenly pushed his hands down and forcefully redirected his gaze.

"It's okay," he said quickly.  "It's getting better."

"B-better?" Wufei stammered.

"Couldn't get much worse," Zechs drawled.  Duo threw him a withering glare, redirecting his attention to the Chinese pilot in his arms when he wilted slightly.

"Don't worry, Wu," Duo murmured.  "When we first found ya… God, ya almost weren't there.  Our hands went right through ya and we almost couldn't see ya.  It was like ya weren't there."

Wufei nodded shakily and looked around, trying not to think about the fact that he could see through his flight suit and legs well enough to stare at Duo's lap.  After seeing the area around him, for a moment he wished he hadn't looked.  Then he went back to wishing for a return to peaceful oblivion.

The area was clearly the remains of a mobile suit battleground.  Debris and corpses littered the ground.  They sat nestled up to a partially intact suit, the only source of movement in the area.  The area was cloaked in blackness, the only illumination was a delicate, unsteady glow that came from nowhere and everywhere all at once.  The eerie light spread out in such a way that everything was draped in blackness without creating a single shadow.

The unearthly howl sounded again, much closer and from a different direction.  Answering cries resounded from three other areas.

"Can we go now?" Duo asked tensely, eyes huge.

"What are you asking him for?" Wufei demanded, struggling to get to his feet.  He only managed it with Duo mostly supporting his weight.  "If Marquise doesn't want to come, I say leave him here."

"I'm all for that," Duo said quickly, starting a quick jog with the raven-haired pilot in tow.  Behind them, Zechs cursed and started after them.

"Idiots!" Zechs fumed.  "We could be running right towards them!"

"In case ya haven't noticed, blondie, they're after us," Duo snapped back.  As if to support his statement, the cries sounded again, forming a semicircle behind them.

"They're driving us," Wufei said.  "Herding us like cattle."  The other two pilots stared at him in unconcealed horror.

"Shit," Duo managed, beginning to pant under the weight of his friend.

"FUCK!"

Shocked at the language from the platinum blond, the two pilots glanced at him, seeing only a glimpse of a pale, horrified face before Zechs snagged Wufei's free arm and began to help carry him.  The two Gundam pilots glanced around quickly, searching for an explanation for his sudden change in behavior.  They found it immediately.  Wufei began a litany of phrases in Chinese that didn't sound happy.  Duo began to go through every curse word and filthy phrase he knew.

Behind them, four bear-sized figures were racing forward, their inky forms almost invisible in the gloom.  The creatures were mostly indistinct, but the fleeing pilots were able to make out thick barrel chests and thick, wide maws gleaming with ivory fangs.  Paws the size of dinner plates pounded the earth as they rapidly gained ground.

Wufei felt a hot breath on the back of his neck, barely resisting the urge to close his eyes and accept his death.  Using the last of his meager strength, he lunged forward, throwing himself into a desperate sprint.  Even with the sudden surge of speed, thick jaws clipped the back of his neck, throwing him off balance and throwing him to the ground.  Still trying to hold him up, Duo and Zechs were dragged down with him.

Terrified, they watched as death approached, dagger-like teeth leading.

A flash of bluish white energy crackled over their prone forms, slamming into the four snarling beasts and driving them back.  A child's voice called out over the pained cries and the scuffling of the creatures as they regained their feet.

"In here!  Hurry!" he called.

Turning, the three sprawled young men found themselves facing a small boy with wild russet hair and vivid emerald eyes.  Behind his frail form was a hovering wisp of opalescent light.  Seeing that he had their attention, he leapt into the gentle radiance and vanished from sight.

Eyes flickering back to the recovering monsters, Duo led the dash to the light, dragging Wufei with him as he leapt to safety, Zechs on their heels.

Tumbling into a heap, the three exhausted young men took a few seconds to sort themselves out as they studied the new terrain.  Blackness stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions, not from lack of light but from lack of anything to fill the space.  Just beyond their feet was a pearly wall of gently roiling light.  Many nondescript individuals stood in the distance, afraid to approach the glittering radiance.  Beside them, the russet haired youth was panting for breath, smiling sadly at them.  He extended one bony hand warmly.

"My name is Reyn," he said breathlessly.  "Welcome to Between."

To Be Continued…

I know it's mean to leave it there, but I love forcing cliffhangers on people.  I'm sure everyone's nice and confused by now.  Yay!  Go me!  ^__^


	3. III

Between

Part 3

By Mieren

"Between?" Duo repeated numbly, panting for breath.  "What or where is Between?"

"Well," the boy said.  "I could sugarcoat it and try to state it in a way that makes sense, but I'm too old for that."

"Too old?" Wufei whispered to Duo, confused.  The child looked no more than eight.

Reyn continued as though he hadn't noticed.  "Between life and death," he said reasonably.  "Your bodies were at the brink of death and somehow managed to survive, but not before your souls departed.  Your bodies are in a comatose state.  Your minds are here and here is where you will remain until you find your physical forms again.  The creatures that were chasing you are Fades, giant dog-demons that serve the Keeper.  Little is known about him except that he collects souls and they are never seen again.  For all we know, he could be Death.  This particular place you are in now is a sanctuary called the Dark Lands.  It is a step closer to death and while here, you can't reach your bodies and return to the land of the living.  But as long as you are in here, you cannot be touched by the Keeper, either."

"Cute story, child," Zechs said irritably, interrupting him.  "Now can we speak to an adult?"

Reyn's lips twitched upwards in an amused grin.  "I'm eighty eight years old."

"What?" Duo exploded.  "Ya look like you're eight!"

"I was eight," Reyn said, "eighty years ago when I first came here."

"Then why do you still look like a child?" Wufei asked reasonably.

"Because I do not know what I look like.  When I was eight, I was hit by a car while riding my bike.  I was thrown head first into a tree.  Miraculously, I survived, but my body has been moved many times and I have given up searching for it.  I know it's still out there because otherwise I would not be here.  Whatever has happened or will happen to me notwithstanding, after the first decade, I decided to act as a guide for others so that they would not be trapped as I have been.  On that note, I apologize for not coming to rescue you earlier, but it is hard to track souls, since there are so many due to the war.  It's far easier to just track the Fades to see what they're chasing.  I accepted it as part of my responsibility as a guide to protect others from the hounds."

"If you are a guide, then explain something to me," Wufei said, slowly straightening and taking his weight off of Duo.  "Why am I translucent?"

"Because you are in critical condition," Reyn answered immediately.  "You are almost dead and as thus, you nearly passed through to the world of the dead.  If I am correct, you have begun to appear more solid as time passes, your body being stabilized wherever it now is."

"How do we get back?" Duo asked, glaring at Zechs when he attempted to protest.  "I don't wanna be stuck here forever, ya know."

"Find your bodies and reenter them.  I cannot tell you the specifics of that as I have never managed to do it myself," Reyn said, shrugging.

"That doesn't sound too hard," the American murmured.

"Naturally, there are complications," Reyn contradicted ruefully, shaking his head and sending russet locks flying.

"Of course," Zechs said skeptically.  Reyn glared at him frostily before continuing.

"First, while here, you cannot read anything in the world of the living.  Numbers and text will appear as a blur."

"Like in a dream," Wufei said thoughtfully.

"Yes.  Second, no living vessel will be visible to you unless it possesses a soul."

"Meaning?" Duo asked.

"That your bodies will be invisible to you, as will the forms of any others in your state and animals as well.  You have to be careful to locate the correct body before entering it."

"Joy," Duo muttered.

"The way you describe it, it's impossible," Zechs snapped.

"Why do you think it takes so long for some people to wake back up?" Reyn countered.

"What will happen if we choose the wrong body?" Wufei queried logically.

"Then it sucks to be you," Reyn chuckled.

"What happened to the 'guide' thing?" Duo asked.

"Very well, I'll guide you," Reyn said, emerald eyes glittering.  He pointed to the barricade of pearly light.  "That's the Wall.  You pass through it to get back to Between, where you can then interact with the land of the living.  Before passing through the Wall, simply envision where you want to go.  You'll land within a few miles of there."

"Great," Wufei muttered.  "Marquise, where is the hospital located at in the base?"

"Why should I assist you two?  You're the ones that got us in this mess!" Zechs spat.  Duo rolled his eyes and ignored them.

"Hey Reyn," the American called.  "What's that thing ya did with the light to chase off the mutts?"  At the mention of power, Zechs and Wufei broke off their impending argument to listen.

"It was a burst of spiritual power," Reyn said smugly.  "It takes years to learn and it will wear you out greatly."

"So we're defenseless?" Wufei asked.  Zechs groaned.

"Yes.  I will try to look out for you as I do all Runners, but I cannot promise anything."

"Runners?" Zechs inquired, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"The term I started using for those trying to get safely through Between.  After all, they're usually running like mad."

"That's not encouraging, ya know," Duo muttered.

"Then this won't be either," Reyn said.  "Don't let the Fades touch you.  If they take a limb off here, it will be paralyzed when you return to the living."

"This just keeps getting better," Wufei groused, waving one arm for emphasis.  He froze and stared at his appendage, ebony eyes wide when he found it to be completely opaque.  Reyn noticed his look and smiled encouragingly at him.

"At least you've been stabilized," he offered.

"Is there anything else ya want to tell us?" Duo asked.

"Don't get caught?"

"Thanks a lot."

"Marquise," Wufei said stiffly.  "Lead us to the base's medical unit."

"Very well," Zechs consented.  "Lets get this over with."

The two irritable pilots walked over to join the American, who was already by the Wall, eyeing the whorls of glittering light with interest.  Images of battlefields flickered beyond it, hazy and indistinct.  Several flashes of a destitute colony appeared for an instant and Duo gasped as he caught glimpses of L2.  Zechs pulled him away from the shimmering barrier and took a step closer, letting his fingers trail through the liquid light.  A sterile white corridor appeared, shadowy figures in scrubs scurrying between rooms.

Glancing at the two younger men behind him, he stepped through, the Gundam pilots on his heels.

To Be Continued…

Next time, the body hunt.  Can you see it coming?  Can you?  ^_^

R&R!


	4. IV

Between

Part 4

By Mieren

For a few seconds, it was almost like being alive again.  Duo paused to gape at his the vivid detail of the Oz base around him, people moving up and down the corridors as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

"Incredible," he breathed.  "I don't feel dead."

"We should start moving," Wufei interrupted, although he was also guilty of staring at his surroundings.  "We need to find the medical wing."

"This way," Zechs said, walking even before he finished the first syllable.  "The sooner we return to our bodies, the sooner I can kill you."

"I feel loved," Duo said sarcastically.

"You should be grateful that I'm helping you at all," Zechs snapped.

Wufei started to reprimand them both when an eerie howl echoed through the halls, the mournful noise causing all three young men to shiver.

"Already?" Wufei breathed.

"Who's up for a nice sprint to the medical unit?" Duo asked, false cheer coloring his voice.

"It's just a few doors down," Zechs said worriedly, looking around wildly for the source of the howling.  "Come on."

Following the platinum blond, the three ran straight through a steel door to enter the room, all three of the pilots having to pause to reorient themselves.  Not truly existing was bad enough, but walking through solid objects was just plain disorienting.  Surprisingly, Duo was the first by far to regain his senses and tear around the room in a quick loop, surveying what he saw.

"Three beds that are occupied but not," he summarized.

"That has to be us," Wufei murmured thoughtfully.  "Where are they?"

"Two are side by side on the west end," Duo reported quickly.  "One is alone in ICU to the north with Treize hovering nearby."

"I'd be the one in ICU," Wufei said slowly.

"But Treize would be checking on me, not you," Zechs countered.

"Let's see what he's saying and then we'll go from there," Duo offered before they could resume squabbling.  It was no secret that Zechs and Wufei weren't exactly fond of each other.

Both pilots nodded in response to his idea, stalking to where Duo had indicated to watch Treize as he spoke to the unconscious form.

"Please wake up," Treize murmured, moving his hand over what looked like empty space.  The three observers assumed he was brushing back errant bangs.  "I can't stand to see you hurt needlessly."  His voice started to quaver, growing ragged.  "Don't leave me."  Trembling slightly in his grief, he leaned forward and gently kissed the comatose form beneath him.

Needless to say, Duo burst out laughing, tears streaming from his eyes.  Even Wufei was chortling.  Zechs was doing his best impersonation of a tomato.

"Shut up and get to your own bodies!" he snapped.

Still gasping to catch his breath, Duo staggered towards where he had seen the other two bodies, Wufei chuckling quietly as he followed.  Sniffing loudly, Zechs turned to the body before him and, for lack of anything more intelligent to do, leapt at it.

Laughter ceased as Duo and Wufei approached the two beds containing empty vessels.  Glancing at each other, they began circling the beds, trying to determine who was who.  Duo was slightly taller, so he focused on the bed on the left, glancing at Wufei for confirmation.  Stumped, the Chinese pilot shrugged.  Their minds were made up when the blood-chilling howl resounded again, this time just outside the door to the infirmary.  When a thick-muzzled head burst through the door, the debate was over.  Duo leapt for the taller of the two forms and Wufei took the last remaining figure.  As they dove, they heard a resounding cry from behind them.

"WAIT!"

Duo and Wufei sat bolt upright, trying to figure out the meaning of the cry and who it had come from.  The voice had been disturbingly familiar.

Duo looked up to see who had spoken, blinking in confusion when he saw Wufei's stressed face a staring at him in absolute horror.  Baffled as to how his Chinese companion could have gotten in front of him so quickly, Duo turned to face where he thought Wufei should be to his side, choking on his own tongue when he saw the spitting image of himself gaping back.  The sight of a long-haired, brunette American made Duo jerk back, sending his unbound hair flying into his face.  He gasped painfully and grabbed at the loose locks of hair in front of him.  They were platinum blond.

"Wu?" Duo asked shakily to the figure that should have been him.

"This is not the time to chat, Maxwell," the longhaired brunette said unsteadily.  He extended one trembling arm to point.  "Look."

Easily the size of a bear, a midnight black dog stood snarling just inside the infirmary, still visible to the eyes of the three hapless pilots.

"Oh fuck," Duo managed, scurrying away from the threat.

Zechs, closest to Treize, who was confused beyond all reason, grabbed Treize's gun and unleashed a few rounds at the snarling hound.  The Fade jerked slightly at the impact of the pistol shots and scurried backwards, issuing a threatening howl as he departed rapidly.

Duo and Wufei exchanged looks.

"At least they can be hurt now," Duo offered timidly, fiddling with his loose blond hair.

"You're overlooking far too much, Maxwell," Wufei snapped.  "First off, how are we going to get into our proper forms?  Second, if we can't, how do you keep from getting shot?  You look like Zechs!  Third and most importantly, how can they follow us here?  Those things are supposed to remain Between!"

Zechs stepped in.  "We're in the wrong bodies," he snapped.  "The Fades are still there because we screwed up."

"What?" Treize asked.  He was ignored.

"So how do we fix this?" Duo asked.  A howl in the distance sounded atop his question.

"I don't know, but we better hurry," Wufei said.  "Apparently, they can still see us."

To Be Continued….

Sorry, it's hard to fashion a fic after a screwy dream.  I'm trying.  R&R!

Notes:

Zechs is in Wufei's body.

Wufei is in Duo's body.

Duo is in Zechs's body.

Also, from now on, those three will be referred to by their mind/soul and not their bodies.  An appearance does not a person make.  =P~


	5. V

Between

Part 5

By Mieren

The debate on what to do raged wildly, involving much swearing from Duo's side.  Treize just watched them in something of a state of shock.  To him, it appeared as though all three of the younger men had lost their minds.  For starters, their personalities were all wrong and their accents were shot, especially Zechs's, the blond now speaking like a street rat and using a curse word every few seconds.  When they consistently called each other by the wrong name, he just shook his head in mute frustration and watched.

To make matters worse, the short Chinese pilot had taken his gun and seemed to be firing it at random, having already put several holes in the door.  The only reason he hadn't lunged for the gun to reclaim it was that he believed the youth too honorable to shoot him while he was unarmed.  At the same time, he was rather uneasy.  If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn that the raven-haired pilot wasn't Wufei.  The three newly awakened pilots seemed to be ignoring him completely as they spoke amongst themselves.

"We're not free to move around here," Wufei said, glaring at the long braid that seemed intent on falling in his face.  "Duo and I cannot stay."

"If Duo goes back with you, he's likely to be shot," Zechs snapped.

"Then you go back and I'll stay here," Duo spat.

"If I go back, I'll be shot!" Zechs retorted sourly.

"Well too bad," Duo snarled.

"You're in danger as well, you baka!" Wufei interjected.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Zechs asked bitterly.

"We all go to a safe house," Duo said forcefully, trying to cut off the other two before they could resume the argument.  "Just us.  We'll figure it out there."

"Figure what out?" Treize asked, speaking up for the first time.  The conversation was growing stranger to him by the second and he wanted an explanation.

"We'll explain it later," Duo said, cutting off Zechs before he could say anything.  "For now, we have to go.  Arrange transit for us."

"Arrange nothing," Zechs said, glaring at Duo and flipping a lock of loose ebony hair out of his eyes.  "I have a car."

"I'm sure you have a good reason…" Treize started, his sentence cut off with a swift strike to the base of his neck.  Wufei watched him drop, sniffing disdainfully.

"That's what you get for molesting me in my sleep," Wufei snapped at the prostrate form, kicking Treize in the ribs for good measure.  Zechs smirked, a bit amused by the temperamental pilot's reaction.  Duo was snickering aloud.  Wufei scowled at both of them.  "Enough, you heathens!  Let's go before I'm forced to shoot you both.  Marquise, where is your car?"

"In the garage, I imagine," Zechs said flatly, reloading Treize's gun as he led them from the room.  He hesitated before shoving the gun into Duo's hands and pushing him into the lead.  "I assume you know the layout of this base.  Go to the fourth level of the parking garages on the southern side of the compound."

Duo nodded and moved to the front, hissing back at Zechs as he walked.  "I know that you're well known and all, but it's still hard to look intimidating in a hospital gown."

"You don't need to look intimidating," Zechs snapped back, keeping his voice low so it wouldn't carry.  "I am a ranking officer.  Try to look like it."

"While wearing this?" Duo asked incredulously.  "I'm not even wearing underwear."

"Is he always like this?" Zechs hissed at Wufei, who nodded tersely.  "How can you stand working with him?"

"Keep in mind who has the gun when you answer that," Duo called back at them, seemingly having no trouble hearing their whispered conversation.

"Shoot me and you'll damage the braid," Wufei retorted, gripping the rope of hair like a hostage.  Duo started to respond, paused and slowed to a stop in the hall.

"We have company," Duo muttered back at the other two.  "Soldiers ahead of us.  I hear four of them."  He studied the hall for a moment.  "Strike when they round the corner.  Zechs, take the right.  Wufei, take the left.  I'll get rid of the two in the middle."

"Just use your authority," Zechs reprimanded.

"They're not going to listen to their commanding officer if he's in pajamas and has two Gundam pilots with him," Duo explained patiently.

Duo didn't really wait for the other two pilots to reply.  The moment the soldiers came into view, he attacked, leading with a flying kick that allowed Wufei to see more of Zechs's butt than he ever wanted to.  He could only imagine what the soldiers saw just before they were hit.  In seconds, all four men were down, Duo standing over them looking vaguely surprised.

"You have some good reflexes, man," Duo called back to Zechs.

Zechs pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, feeling a migraine coming on.  He reflected briefly that if the Chinese pilot got headaches so easily that it was no surprise that he was so temperamental.  Wufei shrugged helplessly in response to his weary glare.  Duo was ignoring them both, too busy stripping the soldiers to pay attention to them.  He chunked clothes at them at the same time he tried to dress, pausing as he shucked his hospital gown.

"Whoa, Zechs!  Way to go, man!  No wonder you have such a deep voice," Duo crowed.  He paused in pulling up his pants, eyes narrowing.  "I knew it!  You bleach!"

"Not one word," Zechs hissed.  Wufei just laughed.

"Definitely not Jewish," Duo muttered.  Zechs finally turned pink, the color looking strangely out of place on the sharp features and Chinese complexion.

"Enough!" Zechs barked.  "Just pull your pants up already!"

"Head towards the garage," Wufei ordered, his voice strained by suppressed laughter.  Despite his normal tendency to be rather sensitive to matters of a sexual nature, he was more amused by his comrade's antics than normal, mostly because the teasing was directed at someone other than himself, for once.

After dressing in the soldiers' clothes and stealing their weapons, they started moving again.  Duo took point again, heading for the car Zechs had told him about.  Luckily, they ran into no other guards, much to Marquise's irritation.

"No wonder you people run amok," Zechs griped.  "Shots are fired, and no one hears it.  Treize gets knocked out, and no one notices he's gone.  Three people break out of the infirmary, and no one sees it on surveillance.  Only one patrol in the halls and they were easily dispatched.  We really need to work on security."

A quick argument on who would drive was settled when Duo pointed out quite reasonably that he was the only one who looked old enough to drive.  Upon reaching the car, Duo thoroughly pissed off the car's owner by breaking into and hotwiring the red convertible.  He continued to drive Zechs insane by speeding out of the garage and off of base at roughly sixty miles an hour, skidding around every corner and bottoming out the car at every dip they passed.  Once he even managed to get the car airborne by hitting a speed bump at almost eighty.  In his defense, he claimed that it was dark and he hadn't seen it coming.

"On the bright side, at this rate we'll be at the safe house in under an hour," Wufei offered, trying to placate Zechs before he had a seizure.  The man nearly exploded at that information.

"There's a safe house that close to our base?" he demanded, black eyes flashing.

"Of course," Duo taunted.  "Wouldn't be good for tactical strikes otherwise.  And don't bother looking for this later.  We never use the same place twice."

Zechs seethed.  Any scathing comments he considered making died in his throat.  He narrowed his eyes at the road ahead, trying to see into the darkness more clearly.

"Maxwell, what is that?" Wufei asked.  Apparently he had seen it too.

"I don't know," Duo said, flipping on the high beams.  The halogen bulbs flooded the abandoned road with light, revealing nothing.  "It's gone now, I guess."

He flicked the lights back down to normal.  A wispy form, barely visible was only a few feet in front of the car.  Duo never had a chance to miss it.  The car was jolted by the impact, jerking the shocks badly as the momentum of the vehicle took it over what he had hit.  Duo slammed on the brakes, bringing the convertible skidding to a stop and leaving tire marks down the road for almost a hundred feet.

The three pilots turned in their seats to look out the back window.  A visible heap was lying in the middle of the road, darker than the area surrounding it as though the meager red glow from the taillights was not reflected back from it.  Slowly, it rose to its feet and took a staggering step towards the car.

"Maxwell, drive!" Wufei hissed.

"It's just an animal," Duo said uncertainly.  "Panther, I think."

"Two things," Zechs said.  "One, panthers don't get back up after being hit by a car doing almost a hundred.  And two, panthers have skin."

Duo did a double take, squinting wildly at the large cat.  Zechs was right.  It had no skin and it's muscle mass was blackened, rotted, hanging from it's skeleton by tattered tendons.  As it neared the car and came more fully into the red glow of the taillights, it seemed to fade out of existence, becoming less visible as it entered the light.

"Maxwell," Wufei whispered, afraid to speak any louder.  "Go."

Duo, mesmerized by the ghastly figure, turned off the lights.  The beast reappeared in the darkness, only a few feet from the car and crouched to spring.  In the front seat, Zechs kicked Duo's foot from the brake and stomped on the gas, pulling the steering wheel out of unresisting hands.  Duo was still staring wide eyed behind them as the car spun its wheels in a loud squeal.  A loud thud told them that the large creature had landed on the trunk of the car.  The shriek of tearing metal echoed harshly through the car as claws dug into the trunk to gain purchase.

A lipless maw opened in a silent snarl, the throat too torn out to possess functioning vocal cords.  Duo stared blankly into the eyeless face.  Finally, Duo snapped out of his trance and loosed several shots into the corpse's head.  Although it didn't seem to notice the injury, the impact was enough to cause it to lose its hold on the car.

Spinning quickly, Duo reclaimed the wheel and pedals from Zechs, flipping the lights back on as he sped up to even faster than he had been going before.  Neither of the other two pilots objected when he pushed the car to over a hundred and forty miles an hour.  They remained in mute shock for several minutes until Duo broke the uneasy silence.

"The next time we see Reyn, he has some explaining to do.  He never told us about those things."

"Keep driving, Maxwell," Wufei said.  "We're not stopping at this safe house."

To Be Continued…

Like I said, this is all based on a dream I had.  Part of that dream involved something that was already dead and could not be hurt… something that could only vaguely be seen in the dark and completely vanished in the light.  You know, I really need to stop eating junk food before I go to bed.  Anyways…  Review!  I live for the feedback.  ^_^


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